Thirteen Chinese mainland entertainment leaders, including Smart Cinema's Dr. Jack Gao, are included in the second annual edition of Variety500, an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the US$2 trillion global entertainment industry. 

Updated on Oct. 30, the Variety500 list focuses on the achievements of important individuals working in various parts of the global media industry, from Amazon Corp.'s CEO Jeff Bezos, and Walt Disney chairman Kavin Mayer, to "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman and "Carpool Karaoke" host James Corden.

They were selected by the editorial board of the leading American entertainment trade journal Variety based on extensive research.

Thirteen Chinese mainland entertainment leaders and three Hong Kong entertainment gurus are included this time. Besides the founders and CEOs of film industry and media giants in China, one man stands out: Jack Gao. His company, Smart Cinema, is a new startup, and it is something of a surprise that it is getting the attention of Hollywood so soon.

Already a legendary film executive, Gao is the former senior vice president of Wanda Cultural Industrial Group and CEO of International Investments and Operations of Dalian Wanda Group, who helped build the company into the world's largest cinema chain, with 12,000 screens in 15 countries. He also served as interim CEO at Legendary Entertainment after the departure of Thomas Tull, before leaving the company in October 2017.

Variety editors wrote on their website, quoting: "Using his venture-capital skills and connections, [Gao] bounced back early [this] year as head of Smart Cinema, a tech initiative that aims to make smartphones part of the theatrical distribution chain. Smart Cinema's operations are still in the nascent stage, but clearly Gao, a global C-suite veteran, is not to be counted out."

Just one day before the publication of the list, while attending a forum of the Chinese American Film Festival in Los Angeles, Gao talked of the development of Smart Cinema and exchanged views with experts and guests and media.

As an innovative attempt in the field of Chinese film screening, Smart Cinema was officially released on May 9. In addition to the normal viewing function, the app can also provide viewers with a variety of views of the movie accompanying a commentary service and mobile VR viewing. 

At present, it has joined hands with mobile phone manufacturer Huawei to enter the international market. As the world's first model based on internet technology, its development has attracted wide attention in the film world.

In 2017, the total box office gross of Chinese movies was 55.91 billion yuan (US$8.07 billion), an increase of 13.45 percent from the previous year. In 2018, the total gross is expected to reach 60 billion yuan (US$8.66 billion). The emergence of a new mobile viewing mode has brought imaginative space for growth. 

At the Los Angeles forum, Gao predicted box office returns would reach 100-billion-yuan (US$14.43 billion) in 2020 due to the beneficial supplement by the mobile screening app, based on the fact that China has 58,530 screens in 10,417 cinemas on the mainland, and 802 million internet users.

While the studios producing major blockbusters have hesitated to promote their films through this platform, smaller production companies have shown growing interest in the Smart Cinema approach, believing it could provide more opportunities for their films to survive and gain public release after being rejected or underplayed by theater managers. 

"We're not a competitor of traditional cinemas. We're a supplement," Gao said. 

Others included in the Variety500 list are China Film Group's chairman La Peikang, Bona Film Group's founder and chairman Yu Dong, Alibaba Group's chairman Jack Ma, Alibaba Pictures Group CEO Fan Luyuan, China Media Capital's chairman Li Ruigang, Hony Capital's chairman John Zhao, Enlight Pictures' CEO Wang Changtian, iQiyi video website founder Gong Yu, Baidu's CEO Robin Li, Tencent's president Martin Lau, Huayi Brothers Media's founders Dennis Wang and James Wang, as well as Hong Kong's action star Jackie Chan and producers Shi Nansun and Bill Kong.

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